Himantura Müller & Henle, 1837

Ebert, David A., White, William T., Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Last, Peter R., Nakaya, Kazuhiro, Séret, Bernard, Straube, Nicolas, Naylor, Gavin J. P. & De Carvalho, Marcelo R., 2013, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Taiwan, Zootaxa 3752 (1), pp. 279-386 : 361-362

Genus Himantura Müller & Henle, 1837

Whiprays / ẠṚẽé

Himantura Müller & Henle, 1837b: 400 . Type species: Raja sephen uarnak Forsskål, 1775 , by subsequent designation.

Himantura gerrardi ( Gray, 1851)

Whitespotted Whipray / ȎkẠṚẽ

Trygon gerrardi Gray, 1851: 116 . Syntypes (2 stuffed spec.): BMNH 1843.5 .19.1, 148 mm DW, BMNH 1846.11 .18.49, 218 mm DW, Indian Ocean near India.

Local synonymy: Dasyatis gerrardi: Chen & Chung, 1971: 32 , fig. 21; Chen & Yu, 1986: 159; Chen & Joung, 1993: 84, pl. 12 (fig. 3). Dasyatic gerrardi: Shao et al., 1993: 120 . Himantura gerrardi: Chen, 2004: 25 ; Weigmann, 2011: 265. Himantura gerardi: Shen & Wu, 2011: 102 , fig.

Taiwan voucher material: (5 spec.) FRIP 03562 ; NMMB-P HO-45 (tissue accession GN9932 ), juvenile male 336 mm DW, Da-xi, 13 Mar 2012 ; CSIRO H 7395-08 , juvenile male 373 mm DW, MNHN 2013-0457 (tissue accession GN10036 ), juvenile male 343 mm DW, Da-xi, 14 Mar 2012 ; AMNH 258175 (tissue accession GN10064 ), female 295 mm DW, Nan-fang-ao, 14 Mar 2012 .

Remarks: Drawing in Chen & Chung (1971) based on THUP 01254 (as Dasyatis gerrardi ). Probably a species complex and requiring a detailed taxonomic revision.

Conservation status: Vulnerable.

Himantura leoparda Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last, 2008

Leopard Whipray / ŚĠẠṚẽ

Himantura leoparda Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last, 2008: 294 , figs 1–4, 5a. Holotype: CSIRO H 2903-01 , female 1105 mm DW, north-west of Weipa, Gulf of Carpentaria , Queensland, 12°08′ S, 139°58′ E, 21 Nov 1991.

Local synonymy: Himantura undulata: Chen, 2004: 25 . Also confused with Himantura uarnak in literature from the western North Pacific.

Taiwan voucher material: (1 specimen) CAS 235430 , juvenile male 356 mm DW, Da-xi, 24 May 2005 .

Remarks: Recently described by Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last (2008) as part of the ‘ uarnak’ species complex; previously confused with H. uarnak and H. undulata . Further taxonomic investigation of this complex is required. Two of us ( PL, WW) positively identified this species from images of two adult specimens caught off the Penghu Islands in April 2006.

Conservation status: Vulnerable.

Himantura uarnak ( Gmelin, 1789)

Reticulate Whipray / AEºẠṚẽ

Raja uarnak Gmelin, 1789: 1509 . No types known. Type locality: Red Sea.

Local synonymy: Dasyatis uarnak: Chen & Chung, 1971: 32 ; Chen & Yu, 1986: 159; Chen & Joung, 1993: 84, pl. 12 (fig. 4). Himantura uarnak: Manjaji, 2004: 5-90 ; Shao et al., 2008: 237; Shen & Wu, 2011: 102, fig.

Taiwan voucher material: (2 spec.) NMMB-P 15735 ; NMMB-P 15784 .

Remarks: A species complex also involving H. leoparda . These species are frequently misidentified as there are few reliable field characters to distinguish them.

Conservation status: Vulnerable.